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Distance Education Retention

Distance education has become another avenue for colleges to reach out to students. It has also become a lucrative endeavor for many colleges. In addition to providing additional income and widening name recognition world-wide, more options are provided a student who is enrolled as a residential student. That is, many colleges who subscribe to the one college concept allow a student to take courses anyway he/she wants to. For example, if a student is enrolled full-time he/she may take a course during the time that the college offers them on campus (8am to 10pm), off campus or through distance education, any combination.

Distance education is relatively new to the educational community. Not much has been written on the retention rates of students who take distance education courses. Indeed, distance education courses are offered through a variety of options. It seems hard to compare the best form of delivering distance education courses or compare a course with one on campus since the student mix in the classes may be different.

All types of colleges are providing distance education courses.

National Distance-Education Programs by Type
of Institution, 2000-1

Status	All	Public 2-year	Public 4-year	Private 4-year
Offered distance-education courses	56%	90%	89%	40%
Number of institutions offering distance education	2,320	960	550	710
Number of different courses offered	127,400	55,900	43,100	26,500
Course enrollments	3,077,000	1,472,000	945,000	589,000
Not offered, but plans to offer it in next three years	12%	5%	3%	16%
Not offered, and no plans to offer it in next three years	31%	5%	8%	44%
Status	All	Public 2-year	Public 4-year	Private 4-year

Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education, Section: The 2003-4 Almanac, Volume 50, Issue 1, Page A15

The table below demonstrates the proportion of distance education providers who offer programs that can be completed totally through distance education.

Proportion of providers with programs designed to be completed totally through distance education

Status	All	Public 2-year	Public 4-year	Private 4-year

Undergraduate-degree program	21%	20%	28%	19%
Graduate- or professional-degree program	35%	n/a	43%	28%
Undergraduate certificate program	12%	15%	13%	10%
Graduate- or professional-certificate program	13%	n/a	18%	10%

Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education, Section: The 2003-4 Almanac, Volume 50, Issue 1, Page A14

There is a variety of technology used for distance education instruction as illustrated below.

Primary technology used for distance-education instruction

Status	All	Public 2-year	Public 4-year	Private 4-year

Two-way video with two-way audio	51%	60%	80%	22%
One-way video with two-way audio	11%	13%	15%	6%
One-way live video	8%	9%	13%	4%
One-way prerecorded video	41%	57%	40%	24%
Two-way audio transmission	9%	7%	11%	11%
One-way audio transmission	11%	11%	10%	12%
Internet, with live-interaction instruction	43%	40%	55%	35%
Internet, without live-interaction instruction	90%	95%	87%	86%
CD-ROM	29%	30%	29%	23%
Multiple technologies	19%	21%	29%	11%

Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education, Section: The 2003-4 Almanac, Volume 50, Issue 1, Page A14

As educational institutions what are we going to do to insure that all students, regardless of the form of education they pursue (on campus, off campus or through cyber space), are receiving an adequate educational experience? How are we assessing the distance education student who may never step foot on our campus to be sure that he/she is academically prepared to take the course? How can we establish a sense of community with these students who may never step foot in a classroom? How can we insure the integrity of our degree when we never actually see a student to know that he/she is the one actually taking the course and devoting the time necessary to gain from it?

I hope these questions will begin to stimulate discussion and stimulate research on this area of higher education delivery of courses and programs.